遺忘與發(fā)現(xiàn)

V. M. 希利爾（仲秋　譯）

V. M. 希利爾（1875—1931），美國(guó)著名兒童教育家、科普作家，創(chuàng)建了卡爾弗特教育體系。他為孩子們編寫(xiě)了一套趣味盎然的歷史、地理、藝術(shù)讀物，即《寫(xiě)給孩子看的世界歷史》《寫(xiě)給孩子看的世界地理》《寫(xiě)給孩子看的藝術(shù)史》。本文選自《寫(xiě)給孩子看的藝術(shù)史》。

All anyone knows about the life of one of the very great painters of the world can be written in a few sentences. Most great painters have had whole books written about their lives， but there isnt enough really known about the life of the Dutchman Jan Vermeer （Ver-mair） of Delft to make even a few pages. Here is almost all we know about him：

Jan Vermeer was born in Delft in 1632 and died there in 1675， leaving a widow and eight children.

There it is in one sentence—the life of Vermeer of Delft. Nobody even knows how many pictures there are that he painted， for some pictures we think he painted may have been painted by someone else.

世界上任何一位著名畫(huà)家的人生故事都是有記載的，而且絕大部分著名畫(huà)家的生平事跡差不多可以被寫(xiě)成幾本書(shū)。荷蘭畫(huà)家揚(yáng)·弗美爾也是一位著名的畫(huà)家，不過(guò)我們對(duì)他的一生卻了解得特別少，加起來(lái)還不到一頁(yè)紙。揚(yáng)·弗美爾的全部生平只有以下幾句話：

1632年出生在代爾夫特，1675年去世，身后留下妻子和八個(gè)孩子。

揚(yáng)·弗美爾的生平就被這樣簡(jiǎn)短的幾句話概括了。沒(méi)人知道他一共創(chuàng)作過(guò)多少幅作品，因?yàn)橛行┊?huà)我們?cè)?jīng)認(rèn)為是他畫(huà)的，可事實(shí)上后來(lái)被證實(shí)并非如此。

But the pictures that we are sure were painted by him are considered very wonderful. Most of these are of indoor scenes. Most of these paintings show a woman doing some very usual thing， like reading a letter or sewing or playing the clavichord or sometimes just looking out of the window. Perhaps his wife or one of his daughters posed for Vermeers pictures. In some pictures there are two women and in a few there are men. In most cases the person in the picture is shown near a window.

The wonderful way Vermeer could paint light coming into a room through a window is one of the first things people notice about these paintings. Next， one notices how well Vermeer could show what material a thing is made of—its texture. The lace cuff， the silk dress， the wooden chair， the silver pitcher， the ripe fruit， the drinking glass， the pearl necklace， the blue china plate， are done so well that no one could doubt what each is made of. One could almost tell how each object feels to the touch. And over all streams the daylight from the window， binding the parts of the picture together. Some people say it is the finest daylight that any painter has ever put into an indoor scene. Certainly Vermeer was able to paint as few men could.

不過(guò)，只要是已經(jīng)被人們確定的揚(yáng)·弗美爾的那些畫(huà)，都畫(huà)得非常好。揚(yáng)·弗美爾的畫(huà)大多畫(huà)的是室內(nèi)景物。揚(yáng)·弗美爾大部分的畫(huà)作題材是一個(gè)婦女在做著日?，嵥榈氖虑椋热缈匆环庑?、做針線活、彈古鋼琴等，有時(shí)候甚至僅僅是在眺望窗外。畫(huà)畫(huà)時(shí)，揚(yáng)·弗美爾可能請(qǐng)的是他妻子或者女兒做的模特兒。盡管他的大多數(shù)作品畫(huà)的是一個(gè)女人，但偶爾有一些是兩個(gè)女人，也有幾幅作品中有一些男人。大部分情況下，揚(yáng)·弗美爾畫(huà)中的那個(gè)人物都在窗戶旁邊。

第一眼看到揚(yáng)·弗美爾的畫(huà)你一定會(huì)驚嘆，他是如何如此絕妙地描繪出透過(guò)窗戶照進(jìn)房間的光線的感覺(jué)的？接下來(lái)再看，你又會(huì)感慨，他怎么可以把畫(huà)中每件物品的材質(zhì)都表現(xiàn)得這么好呢？蕾絲袖口、絲綢裙子、木質(zhì)椅子、銀質(zhì)水壺、熟透的水果、玻璃水杯、珍珠項(xiàng)鏈、藍(lán)色的瓷盤(pán)——這些東西讓人一看就知道每一樣?xùn)|西的材質(zhì)，就像是可以感受到每樣?xùn)|西觸摸時(shí)的感覺(jué)一樣。當(dāng)然，他畫(huà)得最好的還要數(shù)從窗外照進(jìn)來(lái)的陽(yáng)光，光線把整個(gè)畫(huà)面里的人和物都緊密地聯(lián)系在了一起。有人說(shuō)，揚(yáng)·弗美爾畫(huà)中的陽(yáng)光是世界上畫(huà)得最好的室內(nèi)光線。這也說(shuō)明揚(yáng)·弗美爾的繪畫(huà)水平是很少有人能夠與之相媲美的。

Here is one of Vermeers pictures. It is called “The Letter”. It is merely a woman reading a letter by a window， but it is painted so well that it has become famous.

Vermeer did not seem to have any imagination. He painted only what he saw. He never， for instance， made his women prettier than they really were. I dont believe he could have painted a dragon， or Saint George either， without looking at a real dragon （as if there were such a thing?。?or at Saint George himself.

Why is so little known about so fine a painter？ It seems mysterious， doesnt it？ Vermeers pictures were liked at the time they were painted， but then for some reason they were almost forgotten for about two hundred years. No one took the trouble to write down anything about the artist. Then his pictures were “discovered” again and became so valuable that it took a great deal of money to buy one. Most of Vermeers paintings are now kept very carefully in museums.

This chapter is far too short for so important a painter. But there arent any stories to tell about him unless I just make them up. Vermeer didnt use his imagination in painting his pictures， and Im not going to use mine in telling you madeup stories. Well just have to let Vermeers pictures speak for him.

上面是揚(yáng)·弗美爾的一幅畫(huà)——《信》。你可以看到畫(huà)面里就只有一個(gè)婦女在讀信，非常簡(jiǎn)單。但因?yàn)檫@幅畫(huà)畫(huà)得極好，所以非常著名。

不過(guò)，看上去揚(yáng)·弗美爾好像只能畫(huà)出自己見(jiàn)到的東西，沒(méi)有任何想象力。比如，他從來(lái)不嘗試把畫(huà)中的婦女畫(huà)得比現(xiàn)實(shí)中的樣子更漂亮。所以我敢說(shuō)他肯定也不會(huì)畫(huà)龍或是圣喬治，除非他能親眼看到一條真的龍（世界上當(dāng)然不存在真的龍），或者看到圣喬治（《圣經(jīng)》中的人物——譯者注）本人。

可是為什么人們對(duì)于如此優(yōu)秀且出色的畫(huà)家知道得卻這么少呢？他是不是很神秘？揚(yáng)·弗美爾的畫(huà)事實(shí)上在他當(dāng)時(shí)的那個(gè)時(shí)代就很受人喜愛(ài)。不過(guò)，后來(lái)也不知道是什么原因，他的畫(huà)在之后的兩百年里被人們徹底地遺忘了，也沒(méi)人想到要為這個(gè)畫(huà)家記錄一點(diǎn)什么。等到揚(yáng)·弗美爾的畫(huà)被再次“發(fā)現(xiàn)”的時(shí)候，這些畫(huà)的價(jià)值變得更高，想要買(mǎi)一幅都需要非常多的錢(qián)?，F(xiàn)如今，揚(yáng)·弗美爾的大部分畫(huà)都被放在博物館里，小心地保存著。

對(duì)于揚(yáng)·弗美爾這么重要的一位畫(huà)家，用這么少的兩頁(yè)紙來(lái)介紹他是遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不夠的?？墒浅俏夷茏约壕幵煲恍?，否則我真是找不出其他的故事來(lái)講了。揚(yáng)·弗美爾在作畫(huà)時(shí)不愿意用自己的想象力破壞真實(shí)，那么我也就不用我的想象力來(lái)給你們講一些虛構(gòu)的故事了。那就多看看揚(yáng)·弗美爾的畫(huà)作吧。

Word Study

widow /'w?d??/ n. 寡婦;遺孀

sew /s??/ v. 縫;做針線活

pose /p??z/ v. （為畫(huà)像、攝影）擺好姿勢(shì)

The students posed for a group photograph.

texture /'tekst??（r）/ n. 質(zhì)地;手感

ripe /ra?p/ adj. 成熟的

bind /ba?nd/ v. （使）聯(lián)合在一起，結(jié)合

Organizations such as schools and clubs bind a community together.